Fires Caused by Smoking vs Fires Caused by E-cigarettes

April 12th 2017

“250 times more cigarette fires than e-cig fires”

You may have recently seen a number of stories regarding exploding e-cigarettes. While exploding e-cigarettes and thus battery safety is an important issue, the number of these incidents pales in comparison to the number of tobacco cigarette fires as ITV News has recently explained.

The London Fire Brigade have analysed data regarding the cause of fires from the past three years. They found that 14 fires were attributable to e-cigarettes compared to a staggering 3500 fires which were caused by tobacco smoking and not extinguishing cigarettes properly.

Assistant Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Dan Daly said:

“In terms of general fire risk, e-cigarettes do present a safer option than ordinary cigarettes but remember, just like a phone or laptop, if you use the wrong power source to charge it, this can also cause a fire.

We’re strongly advising people to not smoke at all as the statistics speak for themselves, the health impact of smoking is well-documented but many people don’t realise that smoking is also the largest cause of fatal fires.”

So, with London Fire Brigade’s figures showing that there were 250 times more cigarette fires than e-cig fires in the last 3 years, is this ratio reflected fairly by the media?

How many news stories of exploding e-cigarettes have you seen recently?